On December 11, 2015, the foundation of the MLB offseason, so far, was shaken. All-Star outfielder and now-former St. Louis Cardinal fan-favorite, Jason Heyward signed an eight-year $184 million dollar deal with their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, as first reported by Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Earlier in the offseason, Heyward was projected to get a contract something in the vicinity of ten years, 200 million dollars, a contract which would eventually be offered by both the Washington Nationals and his former suitors, the St. Louis Cardinals. However, Heyward took the lesser money deal in order to make an entry into the Friendly Confines.

Earlier in the week, during MLB’s annual Winter Meetings, the Cubs made big splashes by trading former all-star second baseman Starlin Castro to the Yankees for bullpen help and then ultimately signing another key free agent in Eureka, Illinois native Ben Zobrist to a four-year 56 million dollar contract.

Of course, when word got out that Heyward signed with the Cubs, Cardinal fans were outraged. Looking over the Cardinals fan page on Twitter, one would see hateful comments such as “@JasonHeyward, I hope you tear your ACLs on Opening Day!” or “ @JasonHeyward, I hope you break both of your ankles!” among other more hateful things that cannot be included in this story. A sliver of these comments can be seen at the page @BestFansStLouis. One fan went as far as to saying Heyward is the “Benedict Arnold of Baseball” since he is now a traitor to St. Louis after he played for them. David Kaplan from CSN Chicago refuted those claims by bringing up the fact that Heyward was traded to the Cards; he HAD to go there; he did not sign with them.
Needless to say, now that the Cubs signed both Heyward and Zobrist, they are picked to win the NL Central and build upon their success from last year. Will this finally be the year that the Cubs win the big one? Will Heyward make a difference?